title: A non-contact vital sign monitoring system for ambulances using dual-frequency microwave radars.
abstract: We developed a novel non-contact monitoring system to measure the vital signs of casualties inside a moving ambulance. This system was designed to prevent exposure of patients to infectious organisms under biochemical hazard conditions. The system consists of two microwave radars: a 10-GHz respiratory-monitoring radar is positioned 20 cm away from the surface of the isolator. The 24-GHz cardiac-monitoring radar is positioned below the stretcher underneath the isolator. The subject (22.13 +/- 0.99 years) was placed inside the isolator on a stretcher in the simulated ambulance. While the ambulance was in motion at a speed of approximately 10 km/h, the heart rates determined by the cardiac-monitoring radar correlated significantly with those measured by ECG (r = 0.69, p < 0.01), and the respiratory rates derived from the respiratory-monitoring radar correlated with those measured by the respiration curves (r = 0.97, p < 0.0001). The proposed system appears promising for future on-ambulance monitoring of the vital sign of casualties exposed to toxins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management Systems Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 6-6 Asahigaoka, Hino, Tokyo 191-0065, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Takemi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawahara
authors.forename: Hiroto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ichiki
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gotoh
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yura
authors.forename: Bonpei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Takase
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishihara
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances; D004867:Equipment Design; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008872:Microwaves; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010356:Patient Isolation; D011825:Radar / Q000295:instrumentation; D012119:Respiration; D055815:Young Adult